MRO Business Growing Faster Than Projected
Monday, May 11, 2009 at 09:13AM 
By Derek Armstrong, Correspondent. Special Feature.
Running contrary to doom and gloom headlines, Canada's aerospace industry is booming. MRO — Maintenance, Repair and Operations (in aerospace, defined as Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) — is a growth industry with cutbacks in new equipment acquisitions in many industries. In aerospace, where safety is important, and equipment is expensive — an industry very sensitive to economic downturns in the passenger airline business — MRO is enjoying big growth.
Boeing Canada Operations Ltd. (Winnipeg) reports they are trying to throttle growth, to avoid growing too much, too fast. Their projections show growth will drive employment levels up substantially.
Although passenger airlines are in “difficult times” with the economy turning away both business and pleasure travelers, the need for maintenance and repair has grown far beyond the business projections of most MRO companies. Averos, Boeing, StandardAero, Bristol Aerospace enjoy stable operations.
Most critical in the aerospace MRO industry would be engine maintenance, repair and overhaul, operations , airframe work, avionics MRO, and — on the extreme end — renovations of jets or complete engine replacements. Major growth is expected as some airlines — and many private jets and cargo carriers — have aging fleets. In particular, jets over 15 years of age are in their heavy maintenance and overhaul cycle.
Aging jets put a strain on carriers, making MRO very important to reduce costs associated with: flight cancelation costs, fuel consumption, safety and liability, costs of compliance (even in just following through on FAA paperwork), preservation of assets and even brand image.
Only last year, American Airlines was forced to ground its fleet of 300 MD-80s and cancel more than 3,000 flights for a relatively minor MRO issue focused on wrapping an attaching wiring bundles inside wheel wells. As airframes age, the FAA puts in place even more stringent MRO requirements for safety. American Airlines average frame age is nineteen years.
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MRO, Maintenance, Operations, Overhaul, Repair, aerospace, economy, growth
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